We were looking at the whole chapter. We looked at the way Jesus was teaching Israel about him. We saw that he was saying in verses one to six that he was teaching them not to depend on their religious performance. In other words, don't depend on keeping the law to get God to love them. And you know, that's what they thought. They thought, if I keep the law and all of its meticulous demands that the Jewish authorities have pulled together, then God will be forced to love them. And you see, God just doesn't operate in that way, does He? He doesn't love us because we're obedient and that forces Him to love us. He doesn't act like that because He responds to us in grace. He responds, He loves us because He's chosen to love us. He doesn't love us because we keep all the law and we act right. I mean, did you love your children only when they were obedient? No, that would have been a small portion of the time. We love our children even when they're not awake. We love them, we don't like their actions, we don't like their misbehavior, but we still love them. We love them in spite of their behavior. So, in the first section we saw that all these Jewish scholars spent all their time thinking about ways to keep the law and to keep it in all of its minutia, in all of the little bitty tiny ways that they could figure out. And you know, it's said, I think I mentioned this to you one time before, some of these guys would take years and study one tiny passage. And they would say, how are the ways that I can keep this and what are the ways that I don't? And they would write all those things. In order to keep the Sabbath, you had to do this. You could only walk a certain distance. You could not eat the food. You could not do this. You could not do that. And so there was all of these tiny, tiny laws. And they would write books and books and books and books on what it was to keep the law, what it was to break the law. And so they had all of this. And that was how they were seeking to obey God. But you see, Jesus comes along and He says, you've heard it said, but I say to you. And you see what He was doing? He was saying, well, you've been taught all of this, the little bitty minutiae about wall keeping. And He said, I'm going to give you the full thrust of the law. Remember he walked up to that Jewish legal scholar one day and he said to him, all right, tell me the greatest commandment. How do you read the law? You know, he asked the guy back, the guy asked him, okay, what's the greatest commandment? He says, how do you read it? You've heard it stated, but I say to you." So Jesus is teaching them what the law really intended. He's teaching them what God intended to convey to them in all of this. Jesus is clarifying things. He's bringing out to them the spirit of the law, and not just the letter of the law. Because, you know, they can keep the letter of the law sometimes, but they broke the spirit of it. They destroy the spirit of the law by keeping the minutia of it, by keeping these little tiny details. So Jesus comes along in the first six verses we see that he's teaching Israel to be compassionate and not to depend on law obedience so that they can earn acceptance with God. In the second section of the chapter that we looked at, verses 7 through 11, Jesus told his people to be humble and not to worry about earthly recognition. To be humble and not to worry about earthly recognition. Now, why would Jesus want us to be humble and not to strive to be recognized by men? Well, the question is, If we're believers, don't we have this wonderful standing with God already? So why do we have to worry about what man thinks of us? If God loves us, if God cares about us, you know how Paul wrote in Romans 8, You think about what he says in Romans 8 when he talks about our acceptance and our relationship with God. If God is for us, who can be against us? If He didn't spare His own Son and give His own Son for us, what else does He need to do to prove it to us? If our standing with God is up here, why should we worry about what man thinks of us? So why should I jockey for a seat up here at the head table? Why do I even need that? I don't need that because if God loves me already, if God accepts me already, if God has saved me already and He's given His own Son for me, why do I have to worry about where my standing with mankind is? I don't have to worry about what they think of me down at City Hall. I don't have to worry about what they think of me in my neighborhood in some ways, because with God, I'm already accepted. With God, I'm considered His child. I'm considered a co-inheritor with Jesus. Everything Jesus inherits, I've got in there. We're joint heirs with Christ. Doesn't that say that in Scripture? If it says I'm a joint heir with Christ, why do I worry about my standing with men? We're co-heirs with Him. We are Jesus' brothers and sisters. We're loved by God. We're called the children of God. In John 1, 12 it says, But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. You know, the Spirit testifies with our spirit, Romans 8, that we are children of God. So look at the high standing God's already given us. So if God's given me that high standing, why do I have to worry about where I sit at the bank? I don't have to worry about sitting at the head table, do I? Because Jesus has already made me to sit at His head table. Where am I? I'm seated in the heavenlies. Remember that? I'm seated in the heavenlies with God, in Ephesians, it says. It tells us where my position already is. I'm seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Therefore, it should be easy for me to be humble, and it should be easy for me to take the back seat, because Jesus is already exalted. He's given me a place in His family. He's loved me. He's died for me. He's been raised up for me and for you. And so if He's done that for us, we don't have to worry about where we sit down either, do we? I don't have to worry if anybody knows me, if anybody cares what I've done. I don't have to worry about what they think I've done or not done in life, because Jesus loves me in exception. And I'm in great shape. I'm with Him. I'm going to go to heaven. I'm going to be with Him forever. He loves me. Now in the next section, in verses 12 through 14, Jesus tells me, that I should prefer to be recognized on the last day because of what I've done as far as my giving is concerned. I don't have to scheme and connive to the patronage system and get it to work for me, because when I give a dinner party, I can invite all kinds of people, because I'm not worried about them repaying me. I'm going to get paid back, when? At the last day. At the day, he says, it's called the resurrection of the righteous. In Luke chapter 14, we saw it today at verse 14. He said that you will be blessed. They do not have the means to repay you or you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. So you see, I don't have to worry about working the patronage system, do I? Because God is going to be the one who's going to repay us for our generosity, for our sharing with our brothers and sisters who don't have any of that, for our sharing and caring with those that are hurting and needy. I guess the question for me is, do I really believe in enough to live that way? Do I believe that God is going to reward me on that day for my unselfish giving to the needy? If I believe that, then I don't have to worry about the patronage system. I don't have to worry about, you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back. You take care of me, I'll take care of you. God will take care of me. And one day, there's the reward, the great reward that He's going to give to me. You remember, He says, I fought the good fight, I kept the faith, and there is laid up for me in heaven. The crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give to me, and not to me only, but to all those who love His Spirit. That's what Paul says to one of his disciples. If I've done the right thing, if I've lived for Christ, if I've loved Him, if I've done what He said, there's laid up to me a crown of righteousness. One day He's going to give it to me. I don't have any doubts about it. I know in my heart, I'm convinced of that. See, this is the exciting part. What about the parable of the talents? Remember the parable of the talents? In the parable of the talents, remember there are three recipients. The first recipient gets ten talents of gold or whatever it was, ten talents of silver. And he's going to take and invest that. The second guy gets five and the third guy gets one. Remember the first guy that gets the 10 talents of silver, he goes out and invests it, he gets 10 more. And the Lord says to him at the end of the parable, he says, you've made 10 more, I'm gonna put you over 10 cities. Blessed are you for what you've done in obedience to me. You believe my word, you've done this, I'm gonna put you over 10 cities. The next guy comes in, he says, Lord, I've got five more. He says, okay, I'm gonna put you over five cities. The last guy comes in, he said, I took your money and I was afraid of what you were going to do if I didn't produce, so I just stuck it in the ground near his back and said, you wicked slut. He says, give that to the God that's got you. You know, God tells us that we're to be the people that invest for the Kingdom of Satan. We don't just invest in the good stock market investments. Now nothing wrong with investing and being wise with what God's given us. He's called us to be wise stewards, right? But we know our real reward is not there. The real reward is coming at the end. The real reward is when we've been good stewards of the life that God's given us. All the opportunities God's given us. And the real reward is coming at the end. And what are God's rewards going to be like? You know, if heaven is much greater than I can imagine, right here, because I can only imagine so much, then I'm so limited by where I live, by my experience, by the fact that we can't know everything that's going to come. So if God's rewards in heaven are much greater than I can understand, what's it going to be like when He rewards His cities? That guy that's over ten cities, what's that going to be? That guy that's over five cities, what's that going to be? What kind of reward is coming for us to be obedient to the things of Christ? I mean, we've got five, one guy said this, we've got five sentences right now. What would it be like if when God comes back we've got a hundred sentences? When we're with Him in heaven and there's all this, and it's far more wonderful than we ever imagined. The joy that we'll have is we're rewarded in God's presence. The joy that we'll have when He comes to reward His servants for their faithfulness. People who are never known outside of their small venue of work. What's that good? God rewards us. God's not going to be anybody's debtor, is He? Mark 10, verse 29, it says, Truly I say to you, there's no one who's left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or farms, for my sake and for the gospel's sake, but he shall receive a hundred times as much now in this present age, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, farms, along with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. So what's it going to be like? He says, just think about how if you've left father, mother, sister, brother, homelands, farms, if you've given up things like that, the gospel said, and you've turned and invested in the kingdom, Think about how God rewards people. He's not beating bodies dead. So think about how the reward that comes for us. Amazing. Being repaid by this gracious God at the resurrection of the righteous. Now the last parable that Jesus told on this occasion came as the result of a smug comment by one of the Jewish denigrates. And here's what the dinner guest did. He heard Jesus say, there's going to be reward at the resurrection of the righteous. And this one guy just types up a smart aleck. And he says, Oh yeah, it's going to be great for all of us. And then the kingdom of God began. That's a big one. You know, like all of us Jews, all of us who are here today, all of us who are the elect, all of us who are the blessed, all of us who are in this room, we're going to have the greatest time of all, aren't we? And Jesus says, OK, I'm going to tell you a story. And then he went right after this guy. This guy was really, he missed the whole point. He was thinking, yeah, all of us Jews are going to be in heaven together. We're God's chosen people. Surely we're going to get our big reward that day. And his statement was very arrogant. So you look at the story that Jesus told in verses 15 through 24. In this story, there's a certain man who gives, as we talked this morning, a megabillion. In other words, a huge bank. And when he has this huge banquet, he invites a bunch of his friends to come, and they initially say, yes, we're going to come to your banquet. Now remember, every banquet had two invitations. There was the initial invitation, when you sent out word, I'm going to have a banquet and I want you to come. The second invitation was when it was actually ready. Because you remember in those cultures, it takes time to throw a banquet. Because you've got to go get the animals that you're going to kill for the meat. You've got to go get the other food. You've got to prepare everything. You can't just say, I'm going to have it at 5.30 today. You know, that's how we do it. We think if we're late 10 minutes, boy, this is a great tragedy. But in those days, you see, what they had to do was, it's a much different world, so it takes some time to prepare it. It takes some time to build a fire. It takes some time to cook the rice. It takes some time to cook that meat. I remember when we were in Senegal one time, we had this huge celebration when the first elders were ordained. And we came to the end of the service, and they started to cook. And it was about four o'clock that afternoon when the meal was ready. Because it took time to cook the rice, and it took time to cook the meat, kill the meat. They killed it that morning. They cut it up, mushed it, put it in the pan, in the pot, and cooked it. And then they cut it up and served it and put it in huge bowls in front of all of us that were gathered around. So you see, there were two invitations. One, the initial invitation, you're invited to this great banquet. And the second one is, I'll tell you when it's ready, and then I want you to come. And so that's what happened. These people were invited to the banquet. And they were invited to the initial banquet. And then when everything got ready, they sent out the slaves to say, OK, come to the banquet. Come to the banquet. Come to the banquet. You said you're coming. It's time. Come on now. And they all said, I don't think we can come. You know, I bought a piece of land, and I'm going to have to go look at it. I can't come today. If I could come, if you'd been ready yesterday, I could have come. But today, I'm not coming because I've got to go look at my land. Well, they could have looked at that land any day, couldn't they? And the second one said, I bought five yokes of oxen. In other words, I bought me a new tractor. And I want to go out and crank up the tractor and drive it around a little bit. I want to see if that's a good set of oxen. I want to see if they're all good health and this is going to be able to plow my life. And then the third one says, I can't come. I just got married, man. I'm going to go on my honeymoon and I'm not. You know, you know, you might have gotten married three months ago. And you remember the guy who didn't want to do something. He said, oh, well, doesn't the Bible say you're not supposed to leave home for a year? Well, it didn't mean you canceled all your social obligations. All it meant was you weren't supposed to join the army and take off until you've been married for a year. So he says, OK. All of these people are turning us down. What are we going to do? He goes back to the Lord of the household and he says, Lord, we've been turned down by these people. And that guy gets angry. He said, they accepted my invitation. Here's what we're going to do. You go out and get the urban poor. Go get the poor, the blind, the lame, and the crippled. They're in the city. Notice he says in the city. In verse 21, he said, go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city. Go get the urban poor and bring them in. And he said, Lord, why don't you stand off? We've already done that. What else do you want us to do? He said, OK, you've got the urban poor. He said, now what I want you to do is go out into the woods, into the hedges, into the far highways, out to the rural people. And the rural people, a lot of times there were brigands out there. There were thieves and crooks and robbers out there. Do you remember? Those are the guys that live out far, like on the road to Jericho, where there were robbers and thieves and all that. So he says, go get those guys and bring them in, because I want my house full. I want this house full at this party. This is not going to be just a ten people party. We're going to have everybody in the community. We're going to bring them all in. If those guys won't come to my banquet, we're going to fill the house with the poor, the blind, the lame, the helpless, the desperate, and even some of the bad people. We're going to bring them in. I want my house full. Why did Jesus tell that story to that guy? Why did he tell that story with all those implications? Well, part of the story, here's what the parable meant. It is a parable. The man who spoke at the dinner and said, yes, won't it be great when all of us Jews are together in the kingdom, eating the banquet prepared for us, Jesus told the parable, and in this parable he said, I invited the Jews, but they didn't come. He came to his own, and his own received him not. John won, right? He came to his own, but his own received him not. So he says, he sent the invitation out to the Jews, but the Jews didn't come. And the Jews made all kinds of excuses. When God called them to repent and believe in His Son, the Messiah, they turned it down. They didn't want anything to do with it. They rejected the invitation at the banquet. So what did the Lord do? He opens the door to the outsiders, to the strangers, to the Gentile strangers who are on the outside. They don't have the covenants. They don't have the blessings of the prophecies. They're not related to Abraham. They don't have any of that stuff. But God throws the door open and He said, bring all those people. Bring all those spiritually blind, the poor, the needy. Bring all those people out there that don't have the gospel. Bring all those strangers to the kingdom. Bring them in. Jesus reached out to them. And that's what the gospel of the church did in bringing the gospel to the strangers, to the outsiders. Now, when you look at those outsiders, you know, they do what we all do. They say, oh, I'm not fit to come. I'm not fit to come to your party. I don't have nice enough clothes. I don't look good. I'm sick. I'm hurting. You don't want me to come through. And that's why it gives us the word compelling to come in. Because it says what has to happen is that the person who's doing the inviting has to say, no, you are welcome. You are welcome because the Lord of the banquet is inviting you to His banquet. He's not looking at how much money you have. He's not looking at how healthy you are. He's not looking at your spiritual background in the past. He's not looking at your natural advantages in life. The Lord of the banquet is inviting you to come as you are. Don't we sing, just as I am without one plea? He's inviting you to come to the banquet just like you are. He's welcoming you even though you don't have anything to recommend yourself. He's welcoming you on the outside to come in to the gospel. None of us deserve to be part of the kingdom. We don't deserve to be part of the bank. But God tells us we're welcome to come because He invites us, because of His grace. We are welcome to God's kingdom and to His salvation and to His grace. Come ye weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will give you rest of your souls. Remember how Jesus said those words. You've been invited to the banquet. We might be Gentiles, we might be outsiders, which we are. Strangers to the covenants and promises, but God has opened the doors and said, Welcome, you're welcome to my banquet. Come. We've been invited to come because of the cross, and because the gracious and loving God has welcomed us. That's what we're here for. We have a Savior who loves us that much, and He welcomes us. Come ye poor and needy sinners. What is it? Lost in sin? What is it? Sickened soul. Sickened soul. Come because Jesus welcomes us to His back. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that the Lord Jesus does invite us to the banquet of salvation, and He invites us to the banquet of the Kingdom, so that we can be near You and near the Lord Jesus Christ and have the presence of the Holy Spirit. We thank You that of all the gifts that You've made so richly for us, that we can richly enjoy that which You've provided for us even in this time. We pray that, Father, we'll be good stewards of the promises of the covenants, of the blessings of being part of your family, and that we'll share those blessings and welcome them with many others that they'll want to come to. We pray that you'll give us that help this week so that we can be instruments of your grace and touch others. We make our prayer in Jesus' holy and matchless and mighty name. Amen.